RWE : New European renewable control room set up in Coventry

• RWE committed to investment in control room relocation

Following a far-reaching exchange of assets and businesses with E.ON, RWE is one of Europe's largest power generators for renewable energies, with a diversified portfolio of assets.*

A key hub for RWE Renewables in the UK is the former E.ON office at Greenwood House in Coventry. Around 120 people work in this location supporting the 1750MW of renewable operational stations across the UK, either fully or partially owned by RWE Renewables.

In order to support the new business, the control room needed to be relocated from Westwood House. A control room is critical in managing the operations of the assets and wind farms and is required 24 hours a day. This made the relocation both a logistical and time sensitive challenge.

The European Central Control Room relocation and refurbishment took six months to complete, and is the new home for the seven control room engineers who monitor the assets on a 24/7 basis. The control room monitors onshore and offshore wind assets across multiple countries in Europe, and completes several services including turbine monitoring, resetting faulted turbines, providing safety services, acting as a control point for sites in the UK, enacting grid curtailments and providing emergency response for the sites.

Due to the 24/7 operation and strategic importance of the control room, the new site had to be developed and run in parallel to the old one before it was decommissioned.

On the relocation, David Saunders, Control Room Engineer, said, 'The rebuilding of a working control room was extremely challenging, largely due to the change in dimensions of the room, location and building services. However the team and contractors worked together to create a fantastic working space, using lessons learnt during the previous 12 years of operations.'

The work required included; modifications to the building heating and ventilation system, installation of UPS power supplies, improved IT that gives greater stability and allows greater remote support, hardware and software updates and a layout that offers a healthy workstation for employees.

RWE is committed to investing £5 billion by 2022 in low carbon technologies with an ambition to be carbon neutral by 2040.

_{*Full completion of the transaction is expected in 2020.}